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Just under 23 minutes into Friday’s series opener between Longwood field hockey and Appalachian State, the game remained scoreless.

Under four minutes later, the Lancers had blown it open.

A three goal outburst from 22:56 to 26:34 in the second quarter powered Longwood to a 3-0 win over Appalachian State on Friday afternoon. Karly Harwood scored the first two goals for Longwood, and Sophia Loscher tallied her first of the season during the pivotal run as the Lancer defense recorded their fourth shutout of 2021 to ensure it would be more than enough.

With the win, the Lancers (7-5, 5-5 MAC) have now run their win streak up to a season-best three. The victory also marks their sixth straight over the Mountaineers, as they extend their all-time series edge to 21-1.

During their current three-game winning streak, the Lancers have tallied 13 goals, their most in a three-game stretch since Sept 14-22, 2013. With two more on Friday, Harwood is responsible for five of those goals, scoring the first two goals of the game for the second time in three games.

Midfielder Charlotte Wilm set up Harwood’s opening goal, as the pair of 2019 All-MAC performers connected for the first time in 2021 in the second quarter to give Longwood a 1-0 lead.

Harwood struck again just 2:19 later, as Harwood redirected a corner shot with assists from Kolbey Donahue and Jamie Wright to double the Lancer lead to 2-0. Loscher capped the Lancer run 1:19 later, scoring off a feed from freshman Kate Frey to lift the Lancers to a 3-0 lead with 3:26 to play in the first half.

The Mountaineers (7-8, 4-7 MAC) were able to match the Lancers in shots at 10-10, but got just three shots on goal to Longwood’s eight. Longwood goalkeeper Madison Nuckols stopped all three that got through the Lancer defense, picking up her third shutout of the season while improving to 5-4.

Her defense, led by Rio Weber, Donahue, Luna Lopez, Ana Paula Lazaro, and Caroline Verhappen, has now held opponents to three or less shots on goal in eight of 12 games in 2021, improving to 7-1 when doing so.

Longwood kept a clean sheet despite trailing in penalty corner attempts 4-1, snapping a six-game streak where they lead in corners. Addie Clark made four saves in net for the Mountaineers, while defender Corey Allison tallied a defensive save.

With a game one victory in hand, the Lancers will be back in action on Saturday, April 24 at 1 p.m. as they close their regular season in game two against the Mountaineers. The game will be streamed live on Appalachian State’s Twitch channel, at https://www.twitch.tv/appstatesports.